Geo-location has come to this: After three weeks in review, Wheretheladies.at, a web app that aggregates Foursquare checkins by the female gender, is now available on the iPhone. The concept OF A BIG COMPASS POINTING YOU IN THE DIRECTION OF LADIES is so unprecedented that Apple actually called co-founder Jeff Hodsdon on his cellphone to ask about the app during the review process.
Co-founded by Path’s Danny Trinh and Hodsdon, Wheretheladies.at the iPhone app ranks nearby locations by the number of females who have checked in (using a dictionary crawl and permutation logic when gender isn’t available) as well as helpfully points you in the direction of the critical mass of ladies in your vicinity.
We previously called this service “evolutionary advantage,” as it is essentially nerds using technology to circumvent Darwinism. The fittest now includes those who have smarts, or at least smartphones.
Hodsdon says that the difference between Wheretheladies.at and apps like Assisted Serendipity is temporal. Wheretheladies.at only counts check-ins within the past 30 minutes to ensure that ladies will be there when you arrive, “When it says 10 ladies are at Elbo Room that means in the last ~30min. I think that is key. It’s about where to head to right now.”
Right now the app only works in San Francisco, but the team is working on getting it to other cities. When I asked if they would ever build Wheretheguys.at, Hodsdon quickly replied, “I’ll start on that now.”
Update: Hodsdon emails me seconds after this post went up, “Oh! I forgot to add! We’re going out tonight to celebrate. Where ever the #1 spot is for ladies is where we will be :) Updates come from @wheretheladies too.”
You can find out where they’ll be by downloading the app here.